Ghazal’s Nacional lose 4-1 to Benfica

Ali Ghazal started the match where his side lost 1-4 at home to second place Benfica in the Portuguese Primeira Liga on Monday.

The match was scheduled for Sunday, but got abandoned after eight minutes due to heavy fog which forced the game to be postponed to Monday morning. The match resumed at the Estadio da Madeira on Monday starting from the eighth minute.

Benfica were in fine form starting the match launching a counter attack in the first few minutes, but Madeira’s keeper managed to get hold of the ball.

Ghazal and his teammates were a goal down in the first 23 minutes after a cross from Carcela Mehdi which Jonas put inside the net. The first half finished with Nacional trailing 0-1 at home.

The second half started and after five minutes Soares managed to equalize for Nacional after Benfica’s defence failed to clear the ball from inside the box.

Things didn’t stay level for long as just after six minutes, Jonas scored the second goal and gave the lead to Benfica after a Raul Jimenez cross from the left side that Jonas put in first time.

Jonas then headed in his third goal in the 63rd minute earning himself a hat trick for his impressive performance. Nacional’s Soares tried to score his second goal in the 76th minute after a Benfica defender passed the ball to him, but his shot was off target.

Substitute Kostas Mitroglou then managed to score the fourth goal for Benfica in the 89th minute. It’s worth noting that Nacional lie in 13th place with 17 points, while Benfica are second with 40 points.